


A Leap of Faith

by onlykatelyn



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Adrenaline, Fluff, Hogwarts Astronomy Tower, Hogwarts Eighth Year, M/M, Redemption
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-20
Updated: 2018-10-20
Packaged: 2019-08-04 21:37:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,040
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16354730
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/onlykatelyn/pseuds/onlykatelyn
Summary: When Harry convinces Draco to perform the wizarding equivalent of bungee jumping, Draco ends up falling for more than just the leap.





	A Leap of Faith

**Author's Note:**

> A short Drabble I posted on tumblr.

Draco pressed a foot forward, teetering on the edge, allowing his toes to feel the freedom that Harry promised. He gazed downward, marveling at the absolute grandeur of a drop so fatally exhilarating. Lifting his head, he eyed the raven-haired boy, whose exhuberance was almost tangible.

“Are you sure this will work?” Draco asked, still unsure of the trust he’d placed in the Savior of the Wizarding World.

“Of course. I’ve done this like twelve times since we’ve come back for eighth year.”

Draco smirked at the absolute Gryffindor of the boy beside him.

“When did you become an adrenaline junkie anyway?”

“I’ve always been an adrenaline whore, Malfoy. Why do you think I fought the Dark Lord?”

At this, Draco let out a relaxed chuckle. He knew the real reason why, though he wasn’t about to call Harry out on it. Ever since he’d defeated Voldemort, life had been much too mediocre for his taste. He needed to feel alive again.

Harry’s drug of choice to escape his mundane fate is what brought the two to the top of the Astronomy Tower.

“Just remember to use the Aresto Momentum charm about 3/4 of the way down, and you’ll be fine.”

Harry winked at Draco, who audibly swallowed. He and Potter had become more than good friends since he’d returned his wand after the war. Despite their uncanny friendship, Draco couldn’t help but feel unworthy. He was an ex-death eater after all, and why would the Boy Who Lived Again want anything to do with him? He was just too nice, that was all. The friendship, and the possibility of anything more than that, would all be out of pity.

“You ready?” Harry asked, a mischievous grin forming from his lips. Draco nodded once, though he wasn’t sure he would ever be prepared for what was to come. His heart thudded violently in his chest as Harry grasped his hand. If he was completely honest with himself, it wasn’t the impending fall that had his pulse throbbing and transforming into butterflies that tickled as they fluttered throughout.

“One, two, three!” Draco was about to rip away and cower back down the steps of the astronomy tower, but then... he was flying.

 

Hand in hand with Harry, he appreciated the raw slap of the wind biting his cheeks and metamorphasizing his body into something utterly weightless. Here, mid-air, he was no longer the Draco that had been burned by the Dark Mark. That version of himself was still testing the boundary of the tower’s edge, too afraid to leap into the new world that was transforming him from the inside out.

He stole a glance at Harry, who was positively giddy. His mouth was hung wide, spit slung from his upper lip as he grinned like a damn loon. Draco was quite sure he’d never seen something- someone- so beautiful. He was Harry- like he’d always been- but without the weight of being a hero. And, ironically, by flinging themselves off the side of a tower, he’d saved Draco.

When green eyes met gray, Draco found himself giggling with a feather light epiphany that was the beginnings of true happiness. He returned his gaze forward, only to realize that he’d completely forgotten to perform the charm.

The ground was approaching rapidly. He clenched his eyes shut, lacing his fingers with Harry’s and reveling in the fact that his last moments were spent free.

He expected pain, to lose consciousness, to slip into the inevitable oblivion. But all he felt was a twinge in his right shoulder as he and Harry met soil.

They tumbled downward, rolling against each other as they descalated the small hill at the base of the tower. When they came to a halt, chests heaving from excitement and fear, Draco found himself in utter disbelief while Harry smiled.

“I’m sorry...Draco...” he panted, struggling to catch his breath. “My charm wasn’t strong enough... for both of us. But I did try.”

His lungs burned from the adrenaline as he propped himself on an elbow to face Harry, whose stance mirrored his own.

“You... you saved me.” Draco’s eyes were wide with a sort of thankful admiration mixed with a hint of desire. The longing that up until this moment he’d kept hidden.

Harry’s grin slowly morphed into a shy smile, emerald eyes bright with adoration and another emotion that Draco couldn’t place.

“You saved me at the Manor. Call us even.”

Draco looked down, fingering a piece of grass mindlessly. The memory of denying what he knew to be Harry wasn’t something he visited often.

“You’re not a Death Eater anymore, Draco.”

The soft words lifted him from the stupor, and he snapped his gaze upward to meet Harry’s.

Green eyes burned against steel, a passionate intensity that seemed to wipe his slate clean. Redemption. That’s what he’d finally found, and it was staring back at him in the form of a hero.

Silence resonated against the small space between them. He was so close; Draco could taste the adventure of red lips that weren’t far from his own. His breath quickened albeit the safety of the ground. Was he imagining this?

Emerald irises flickered down to thin, pink lips and back up again. Draco’s breath caught somewhere in his throat. And then, before he could convince himself he was dreaming, Harry pressed his mouth to Draco’s.

It was a gentle caress of flesh, a joining of hype and epinephrine and dreams and reality and life and- and everything in between.

The exhilaration of the fall was nothing compared to this.

Draco’s lips parted, inviting Harry inside, and he felt warm and moist and oh MERLIN he never wanted to let go.

Harry tensed with anticipation, reaching a hand to cup Draco’s cheek and inevitably pull him closer. They kissed again and again in a succession that flipped the world upside down.

When they separated, Draco was laughing.

“What’s so funny, you?” Harry’s humorous smirk played on the edges of his lips.

“Ah, nothing.” Draco wiped a tear from his eye. “I’m just so happy, Harry.”

With a grin as wide as their fall, Harry scooted even closer to the blonde.

“Me, too, Draco. Me too.”


End file.
